Disturbed

I told myself I would just not think about this, but I find myself debating about it.

Alcohol… when is too much TOO MUCH?

From my own personal experience, I maybe go out once every couple of months and get trashed. And I only do it with people I trust or I’m comfortable with. I think the last time I got really messed up was back in November when LN went for a 2 month RR. We did it in celebration of finishing her project and getting to be free for a while from work.

Alcohol, when its in the house, will sit there for months before I break it out. I think I have beer from last january sitting on the shelf with an unopened bottle of wine, about as old, right by it. I’m not one to drink alone, that’s probably why it sits there until I get a hankering or have company over.

JP recently joined our company right before JH came back. He’s taken over some of the main things out here on the project (in Nome). Last weekend, when work got cancelled due to weather, he drunk himself into a stupor and passed out in his bedroom. Never once coming out and joining civilization unless it was to get a refill. Along with the alcohol, he pops sleeping pills (which he vocalizes quite loudly about).

Today, he left site a little after noon, took a rush sample to the lab, popped it into the oven to melt, and then, instead of going back to site, he went to the bar (and left KE to do all the work).

I was sitting in the living room, channel surfing to keep myself amused until one of the guys came back with a truck, when he stumbled in looking very disoriented. He was covered in loose snow like he had fallen. I didn’t realize right then that he was drunk off his ass. I asked if he was okay (slips on ice can be nasty) and he mumbled something incoherant to me and then stumbled to his bedroom. It wasn’t until he staggered back out and gave me the glassy eyed look that I realized he was drunk. No, beyond drunk. He was wasted.

His truck was no where to be seen outside of the apartment. KE comes back, while I’m pulling on my boots (the warning voice in my head telling me I needed to get the fuck out of there).

He looked at me and asks, “JP hasn’t made it back yet?”

“Yeah, he did. He’s hiding in his room. Where’s his truck?”

“Oh he said something about taking it to the truck shop to get it fixed.”

“He did? Then how did he get back here? He was covered in snow when he came in.”

And that’s when KE raises his voice calling for JP and we find out that the truck is parked at the bar.

KE looks irritated and grabs the extra keys off a desk that’s in the living area. I run KE over to the truck, while he gives me a brief rundown of that days events, he finally asks me what time JP came in. And I tell him about 5:30 and I ask him what time he left site to take care of the sand sample. He tells me 1:00.

I start shaking my head, “It’s unprofessional KE… its one thing to get drunk after shift is done, another to skip work to get toasted.”

KE was looking distraught, “I think it was me Kristina. I think I pushed him over the edge.”

“You talked to him about what our position is when dealing with contractors and clients?”

“I may have ripped into him too much.”

We didn’t have much more time to talk after that because I had the shift change meeting to get too. The day before, all of us were at the 6:30 meeting. Instead of letting the client run the meeting, JP did everything.. he even had done up a schedule that the contractor should be making. Not us. KE and I talked about it briefly before they left site and he asked me if I saw the same thing he saw. I said I did and that someone needs to explain to him what our position is and what his actual responsiblities are. Or RB needs to sit down with him (that’s the engineer overseeing everything). Mostly because if JP isn’t careful, he’s going to piss someone off. It was bad enough that at today’s meeting, people were scoffing at the schedule he’d made.

I’m worried. JP needs help, but you can’t force help on someone. They have to realize they need the help. But what do you do in the meantime? How do you tell someone that what they are doing could potentially kill them if not kept in check?

How do you act around someone that seems to be teetering on the edge of oblivion?